


Welcome to the Witching Hour

by Highdrama109



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: All romantic relationships will be minor and mostly canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Season/Series 01, What if Ryan raised Nancy with the Drews
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29708733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Highdrama109/pseuds/Highdrama109
Summary: When Nancy's step-mother Tiffany Hudson is murdered and she is a suspect, she know that she's going to need to find out what really happened if she wants to clear her name. However, the more deeply she digs, the more troubling family secrets she finds. Especially ones related to Lucy Sable, her biological mother.
Relationships: Carson Drew & Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew & Ryan Hudson
Comments: 33
Kudos: 34





	1. Pilot

‘This can’t be happening,’ Nancy Drew thought to herself, slightly hysterically, as she knelt next to the prone body of her stepmother, the alternating red and blue light from the police cars casting her face into eerie shadow. Nancy had never really known Tiffany, hadn't even attended the wedding, but she had never seen her with such a ghastly expression of fear. ‘Almost as if she had known what was coming…’ 

A commotion from the restaurant caught her attention. The few remaining customers trickled out to see what the police were doing there, but luckily it was too dark for them to see much. Quickly, Nancy headed over to the crowd to try and get them back inside before they could figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, one familiar voice caught her attention over the din.

“Tiffany? What’s going on? Where are you?” called Ryan Hudson as he tried to push his way out from behind the other members of his group. Nancy cast a panicked glance at George Fan, her manager at the Claw, but George just cast her a dirty look. She’d never been Nancy's biggest fan, and with relatively good reason, but blaming her for this debacle was a little too far. Realizing that if she didn’t do anything, Ryan was going to stumble on to the body of his recently murdered wife, Nancy put on her best Customer Service Face and headed over.

“Sir, I apologize for the inconvenience, but I’m going to have to ask you to go back into the restaurant,” Nancy said pleasantly, all the while making pleading eye contact in the hope that Ryan would get her message and not make a fuss. 

“Nancy, what’s going on here? Where’s Tiffany? And what are the police doing here?” Unsurprisingly, Ryan did not take her silent hint.

“Well,  _ sir _ , if you all would go back inside, I’m sure the police can explain everything. But it is in your best interest if you go back inside.”

Ryan shot her a look promising that they would be having words in the near future but thankfully did as she asked and led his group back inside.

Predictably, as soon as Nancy stepped foot in the restaurant, he made an impatient gesture with his hands and walked into George’s office. Knowing she had no other choice, she followed.

“Nancy, hun, what’s going on? Why didn’t you want me outside?” Ryan asked her, pleadingly. He was all too familiar with the extralegal methods she had employed in the past, and most likely thought the police were there because of something she had done. Unfortunately, it was much worse than that.

“Listen Ryan, Dad, something’s happened to Tiffany. I’m not really sure what-- I was just out there and she was fine, but Dad, Tiffany’s dead.”

His eyes, which had been widening since her use of the familiar term of address, clenched tightly closed when he realized what she was trying to say. He slowly sank onto the floor next to George’s desk, his designer shoes squeaking slightly on the linoleum. Nancy sat down next to him, holding his hand in both of hers like he had done for her when her mom had died. They sat in silence for a few moments before Ryan spoke up.

“How?” he croaked; his voice was hoarse with the effort of holding in tears.

“I’m not sure. She hadn't been, uh, hurt if that’s what you mean. I came outside, and she was just lying there, not moving.” She squeezed his hand tightly then let go so she could hug him as best she could from their awkward position. “I’m really sorry,” she mumbled from where she had her face pressed to his shoulder. 

After sitting on the floor for a few more minutes, Ryan got up to go talk to the police. Nancy stayed seated, trying to give their movement some distance so that no one would notice they’d been in the office together. Eventually, she grabbed a dishrag and made her way back into the seating area. 

She made eye contact with Nick as she settled into a booth, raising the rag up in response to his silent question. Halfheartedly, she swiped the rag across the table, scrubbing at a stubborn sticky spot that had been bothering her all summer. Eventually, the police got around to interviewing her and her coworkers, promptly declaring them suspects and hauling them and Nick down to the station. Nancy caught Ryan’s eye on the way out and she could tell by the look on his face that her other father would be getting a call very shortly.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Nancy wasn’t really sure what had made her confide in her coworkers about Tiffany’s death. It was bad enough that they knew about her and Nick’s whatever-it-was, but to tell them that she was going to Ryan’s house to look for clues? Granted, they probably thought she suspected him of the crime, and there’s no way they would expect her to go in through the front door, so at least they didn’t have all the information. 

As she walked down the street towards his house, she wiped the sweat off of her brow with the cuff of her jacket. It was when she was forced to walk in Maine's ridiculous humidity, that she most regretted prohibiting Ryan from buying her a fancy new car with working air conditioning. ‘Honestly, that man has no concept of subtly,’ she thought to herself with a smirk, readjusting the strap of her purse that had been sliding down her shoulder. Of course, her biological father’s lack of subtlety was also the reason why George had been assigning her toilet duty all summer. George had made no secret of her crush on Ryan, so when rumors began to spread about him spending time with an underage girl, she was the school’s prime suspect. George was smart though and had seen Ryan with Nancy a few too many times. Luckily for Nancy, no one else had put the pieces together, and even George just thought she was two-timing her boyfriend, not hiding her relationship with her biological father from his psycho family. 

Speaking of psycho family, Nancy darted behind a bush as a car drove past. In the faint evening light, she recognized the car as belonging to her grandfather, Everett Hudson. With such an unpleasant reminder of her need for secrecy, she kept close to the shadows for the remainder of the walk. She put in the code for the gate and waited for it to open. Ryan had hired some tech wunderkind to design a security system that would alert him if her code was entered, giving him time to make sure the coast was clear. After waiting a few more minutes, she walked up to the front door and went inside. Her father was waiting for her, sitting on the couch with a glass tumbler pressed to his temple. When he saw her he shot up, amber liquid splashing over the rim. 

“Nancy, it’s good to see you. How are you doing? I told those jackasses they didn’t need to take you down to the station, that you hadn't done anything, but they wouldn’t listen to me.” Ryan said, reaching over to give her a bruising hug. His rapid change in tone from worry to anger suggested he wasn’t on his first drink, but she didn’t comment. It wasn’t the time. 

Carefully, she guided him back to the couch and sat him down. She pried the glass from his grip and set it down on the coffee table, making sure to put down a coaster first. God forbid Celia sees a watermark on what was surely a priceless Hudson antique. 

“I feel like I should be asking you that,” she said hesitantly, “since, you know…” she trailed off, not wanting to say her name. Ryan was fragile at the moment and she didn’t want to upset him.

“I’m a Hudson. What else can I be but okay?” he asked gloomily, putting his face in his hands. 

“Then by that logic, I have to be okay too,” she halfheartedly joked. Given the stricken look on his face, however, it didn’t work. 

“No, of course not, I didn’t mean, you can be anything you-” he cut himself off. “You’re not a Hudson, not really. You’re better than the lot of us for not having been raised the way I was. Kate and Carson did a better job than I ever could have.”

Seeing as he was getting maudlin and would probably pass out soon, Nancy hauled her father up to help him to bed. She hefted his arm over her shoulder and maneuvered him towards the stairs. Before they could get there, Ryan stopped her with a hug so fierce she stumbled back against the front window. 

“You’re the only good thing I’ve ever done,” he slurred as he buried his face in her hair. “I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”

She patted his back reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Dad. Nothing’s going to happen to me. Now how about we get you upstairs, huh?” 

He seemed content to let her lead him to his room and to sit on his bed. He fumbled with the laces of his shoes for a minute before giving up and toeing them off. Nancy pulled back the covers and he flopped into the open space, closing his eyes.

“Are you going to be okay alone tonight, Dad? I can call Carson to let him know I’m staying here if you need me,” she said as she drew the curtains and turned down the lights. 

“No, I’ll be okay,” he mumbled into his pillow, already half asleep. 

She was about to leave when she remembered her original reason for coming over. “Do you mind if I look around a bit?” she asked softly, not wanting to disturb him if he was already asleep. He wasn’t, because he responded.

“Do whatever you want. Now that she’s gone, everything that’s mine is going to be yours sooner or later.” And with that last gloomy comment, he rolled over and passed out.

Nancy crept back over to the bedside table and began rooting around. It felt like an invasion of Ryan’s privacy to look through stuff, permission or not, so she stuck to Tiffany’s side of the room. Before long, she found a secret compartment that had a necklace and note in it. Deciding that was enough for the night, she made her way back to the front door, where she was met with flashing red and blue lights. ‘Damnit,’ she thought, fiercely berating herself yet again for not letting Ryan buy her a car. Clearly one of his neighbors had seen her skulking around and called the police. She rushed back to the master bedroom to wake Ryan up and let him know what was going on. With his bleary acknowledgment that he would take care of it, she left the room and headed to the backdoor to sneak out. Before she could get there, a hand reached out and grabbed her. She turned around, expecting to see a police officer, but instead, she saw Nick.

“Nick? What are you going here?” she whispered and pushed them both against a column to avoid being seen.

“What am I doing here?” he whispered back, “What are you doing here? I was worried about the way you were talking at the Claw and thought you might do something stupid. It looks like I was right!”

She rolled her eyes and tugged him along to the backdoor. “I didn’t need your help, I would have been fine on my own,” she hissed as she closed the door gently behind them. Ryan should have gotten to the officers by now, but there was no need to do something careless like let a door slam. Ryan might be able to explain her presence in his house, but Nick had a record, and Ryan tended to get overprotective at the worst possible moments. If he knew she’d been sleeping with Nick, he would definitely let the officers arrest him. 

They crept through the brush as quietly as possible, only stopping for a second when Nancy’s hat got ripped off her head. She left it, figuring it would be suspicious to Nick if she didn’t rush, and made a mental note to text Ryan and ask him to grab it for her. 

However, the humidity and the bugs on top of her crappy few days had her spoiling for a fight, one she got on the drive back home with Nick. She yelled at him about needing space and he yelled at her about wanting a commitment. In the end, neither of them got what they wanted because even though he gave her space when he sped off, she kept thinking about their conversation and the angry words she wished she could take back. Nick was one of the few good, uncomplicated things in her life and she was sorry that she’d hurt him. She slept poorly that night and got to work just on the wrong side of late, as usual. Fortunately, George didn’t hold it against her too much, and soon enough they headed over to meet the medium mentioned in Tiffany’s note. 

* * *

  
  


When Nancy was little, she’d always secretly believed in ghosts. She had thought that if they were real, her birth mother, Lucy Sable, would have visited her. Years passed, and as she got older, she got more jaded until she finally declared altogether that if ghosts were real, her dead mother would have shown herself by now. Since she hadn't, they weren’t. After that, she’d fiercely rejected anything that had to do with the supernatural. She probably should have been more polite to the medium, but any thoughts of poor manners left her mind when the woman began to creepily chant about finding a dress. The three girls booked it out of there and returned to work, but the whole encounter left her on edge. She was just getting ready to leave when she saw Nick standing at the backdoor looking sheepish.

“Hey,” he said with an awkward little wave that she fought not to find adorable. “Do you want a ride home?” She considered saying no just to be petty, but he was clearly trying to apologize and decided to throw the poor guy a bone. 

“Yeah, that’d be nice.” She grabbed her purse from her locker and headed out the door. 

They sat awkwardly for a few minutes before he spoke up. 

“So, I thought you were supposed to be an expert detective or something,” he began teasingly “How’d the police know you were at Ryan Hudson’s?” He was smiling, but she could see an undercurrent of tension lingering beneath the surface. 

“Oh, he must have come back early or something. I swear I thought I saw him leave but I guess I must be slipping,” she replied playfully. 

Surprisingly, instead of smiling back at her, he seemed almost disappointed with her answer. They drove in silence the rest of the way back to her house, but when they got there, Nick turned to her with a serious look on his face.

“So, I know this isn’t something we’ve really talked about much, and I know you want to keep things casual, but I was hoping we could be casually exclusive.” 

She almost wanted to laugh in relief but refrained as he would probably take that the wrong way. ‘That’s why he’s been acting so weird, he’s nervous.’

“Yeah,” she replied with a bright smile, “I’d really like that. I mean I haven't been seeing anyone else, but yeah, let’s do it.”

His face, which had broken out into a smile when she’d begun to speak, fell somewhat as she continued. ‘It’s almost as if he’s disappointed that I said I haven't been seeing anyone else.’ Deciding she must have imagined it, she gave him a kiss and got out of the car, turning back when she reached the stoop to wave farewell. His expression was pensive, but he returned her wave before driving away. 

Smiling to herself, Nancy let herself into the house. “Dad? Are you home? If you have the time, I think we should go over…” she trailed off as she saw that Karen was sitting on the couch next to her Dad. His expression was somewhat uncomfortable as if he’d just been making awkward small talk, but she was quickly distracted by the hat that was sitting on the coffee table in front of the pair. 

“Dad?” she caught his eyes, panic coloring her voice slightly, “What’s going on? Why’s Karen here?”

“I’m worried about you Nancy. The police were called to Ryan Hudson’s house last night because a neighbor reported a break-in. I found this in the bushes behind his house. Before you protest, I know it’s yours. What were you doing there?” Karen walked over and put her hand on Nancy's shoulder, looking at her beseechingly. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Nancy shrugged her hand off and took a few steps back.

“Is there something specific you’d like to accuse me of? Because as far as I know, Mr. Hudson hasn’t filed any charges or even reported anything. So, let me ask you again, what are you doing here?” Nancy knew she sounded defensive, but she’d rather offend Karen than give her a hint as to why she’d actually been at Ryan’s the night before. 

Her Dad walked over and smiled at Karen tightly. “Thank you for telling me about this, Karen, but I think it’s best if I handle this from here.”

Nancy stayed where she was while Carson walked Karen out, running her hands over the soft knit of the hat which she rescued from its place of shame on the table. 

“You have to be more careful,” her dad after he got back inside. “Even if she made the wrong assumption this time, we don’t want any reason for you to be linked to Ryan.”

“Trust me, I know it was a stupid mistake. I’ll get mom’s car fixed so that it won't happen again.” She replied with a tone of exasperation. She’d had such a long day, the absolute last thing she wanted to deal with was another parental lecture. 

Carson sighed and flopped down on the couch waiving Nancy over to join him. Once she had, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. They sat like that for a while, and just when she thought he might have fallen asleep, he spoke.

“I know you're an adult now, and I know you can take care of yourself, but I am your father and it is my job to worry about you. If Ryan were here, he would say the same thing. Karen has been a friend of ours for a long time, but we have no idea what she would do if she got suspicious. All I am asking is that you be more careful.” When it became clear that she wasn’t going to respond, he kissed her on the forehead and headed up the stairs, but paused before he reached the landing.

“Oh, and Nancy? I saw who dropped you off. I don’t think you would listen if I told you to stop seeing him but remember… no one can know about you and Ryan. We can’t risk Everett and Celia finding out.”


	2. The Secret of the Old Morgue

‘It is so like Everett to make my life harder without even knowing it,’ Nancy thought as she slammed the dishes down on the counter in frustration. ‘He must have the other coroner in his pocket. Why else would he insist on having Tiffany’s autopsy done out of town?’

“Drew!” yelled George from the other room, interrupting her train of thought, “If there’s a single crack in any of those dishes, it’s coming out of your paycheck.” She stopped in the doorway to glare at Nancy. “Don’t think that just because I went to that psychic, you get to do whatever you want. Just because you got away with everything in high school doesn’t mean that’s going to happen here. Your sugar daddy can’t buy you out of trouble here.”

“No one bought me out of trouble,” Nancy grumbled to George’s retreating back as she gingerly put away the dishes and left the kitchen, knowing that any attempt to defend herself would only make her boss angrier. Even though the thought made her shudder, Nancy had never tried to correct George’s assumptions about why she and Ryan had been seen together so often. While a secret father was hardly the first conclusion a person would jump to, Nancy would rather not bring any more scrutiny onto the situation. Of course, one downside of that decision was that her boss hated her and did everything possible to make her life more difficult. 

“Speak of the devil,” Nancy muttered to herself as she glanced out the window. Ryan was sitting in his car in the parking lot of The Claw, waiting for her to leave. ‘Considering how busy his vague business work usually keeps him, I’m surprised he has time to hang out in the parking lots of dingey restaurants,’ Nancy thought uncharitably. Even though she understood, having one of her fathers away on business for most of her childhood had still hurt. He always tried to make time for her, but there was little they could do with the specter of his family looming over them. 

“Alright, I’m taking off. I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Nancy called out as she rushed to grab her stuff and get out the door before any of her co-workers could notice the extremely eye-catching Bentley loitering in their parking lot. The last thing she needed was even more people thinking she was sleeping with her father. 

She faintly heard George yelling at her from deeper in the restaurant, but luckily the front door shut behind her and drowned the sound out. Nancy knew that George was only trying to do her job, but right now the Claw was the last place that she wanted to be. She hurried over to the car, opened the passenger door, and threw herself in as quickly as she could. Ryan looked slightly alarmed at her haste, but thankfully said nothing and started driving. As they headed away from the restaurant, Nancy thought she heard Nick’s truck, but ducked down in her seat so she wouldn’t be visible. Finally, as the rumble of the truck’s engine faded away, she sat up straight and looked at her father in annoyance. 

“I know that you’re worried that Tiffany’s killer is still on the loose, but is this seriously the least conspicuous car you could find?” Nancy scoffed. 

Ryan had the grace to look slightly sheepish. “I know, I know, it was a bad idea, Carson already yelled at me about it. But when he told me he couldn’t pick you up, I didn’t want you to walk home alone.” 

“Whether you and Carson want to admit it or not, I am a legal adult,” Nancy replied with a roll of her eyes. One would think that having a father as young as Ryan would mean he would be cool, but in reality, he was almost as bad as Carson. On her first date, she had caught them lurking in a car outside the restaurant. Carson later told her that he had only just talked Ryan out of bringing binoculars. 

This time he was unrepentant. “We still don’t know why Tiffany… why anyone would want to hurt her. If it was because she was a Hudson, or if it was because I…” His grip on the steering wheel tightened “Well I can’t risk something happening to you too. I understand being in public like this together is risky, but I’d rather risk our secret than your life.” Although he kept his eyes on the road, Nancy could see his eyes were suspiciously shiny. 

They drove the rest of the way to Nancy’s house in silence. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


For the second time in as many days, Nancy found herself slamming down dishes on the Claw’s kitchen counter.

“Tiffany’s autopsy! I can’t believe I forgot to ask Rya--” She trailed off as Bess entered the room.

“What’s this about Tiffany’s autopsy? Have you heard anything? Are we not suspects anymore?” her co-worker Bess Marvin exclaimed enthusiastically, thankfully not noticing Nancy’s panicked expression and aborted statement. 

“No Bess, I haven’t heard anything, and as far as I know, we’re still suspects,” Nancy said with a sigh, leaning up against the counter and resting her chin in her palm. “And now that Everett is moving her body to a coroner he can control, we may never know who the real killer is,” she mumbled to herself.

Bess gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, no Nancy! What are we going to do? Is there any way we can stop it?”

Nancy looked at Bess in surprise. ‘Wow, she has scary good hearing.’ She cleared her throat and looked at Bess with a strained smile. “Unfortunately no. Since the Hudsons are the ones who are having her moved, they’re the only ones who know when the transport will get here.”

She grabbed the plates and walked over to the cabinet, turning her back in an attempt to indicate she was finished with the conversation. Bess, however, had other plans. 

“There must be something we can do.” Nancy couldn’t see her face, but the tone of her voice became mischievous. “You said that only the Hudsons would have access to that information. I heard that Ryan Hudson will be at the beach today for that bucket thing. Maybe his phone will ‘accidentally’ fall from his pocket and we can find out what he knows.”

Nancy hesitated slightly, before setting the remaining plates down. She couldn’t let Bess get ahold of Ryan’s phone; if she took the wrong one, their secret was blown for sure. But if she sounded too eager to get the phone herself, Bess might know something was up. She wasn’t supposed to know Ryan, after all, and shouldn’t have any reason to want to steal his phone. ‘How should I play this?’

After a moment of contemplation, she replied. “No, I should be the one to get it. I shouldn’t’ve let you come with me to the psychic and I definitely shouldn’t let you get more involved than you already are. I don’t want anyone to risk their neck for me.”

“Nancy, don’t be ridiculous. We’re all suspects, it benefits us all to try and get clear our names.” Bess said, eyes wide and pleading.

“Fine. You can help. But you have to listen to me; don’t go off on your own. And whatever you do, stay away from Everett Hudson. He’s bad news.”

‘Bad news, that was an understatement.’ She couldn’t suppress a shudder that arose at the mere mention of his name. She didn’t think he had a reason to kill Tiffany, but she didn’t doubt he would’ve if he’d thought it was in his best interest.

“You met Nick the other day, right? He works at Josh Dodd’s garage, in town. Go down there and ask him for something that can be used to break into a car. He should be able to help you.” And hadn’t that been a weird realization. Her secret fling/maybe-boyfriend worked for her secret uncle who didn’t know she existed.

She texted Bess the address and continued, “I’ll go track down Ryan and get his phone, but we need to return it inconspicuously, and the best way to do that is to break into his car and put it there. Phones fall out of pockets get left in cars all the time.”

She wouldn’t need to break into the car, or even steal the phone. All she needed to do was ask Ryan what was going on and he would tell her. But she needed something to get Bess out of her way, and that was the best she could do on short notice.

‘I used to be better at lying on the fly.’ She mused as she watched Bess bound out of the kitchen and into the staff room to grab her purse. ‘Now to find my dad.’

  
  


* * *

  
  


Finding Ryan wasn’t as easy as Nancy had expected. She’d gone by his house but his car wasn’t there, nor was he at his office or her house. She’s also tried calling, but he didn’t pick up his work phone or his personal one. She was at a loss. The country club crossed her mind but she dismissed it. He might’ve gone there once, but since he’d started working against his parents in earnest, he’d been avoiding anywhere he might run into them. 

After a few minutes of stewing in her car, Nancy remembered what Bess had said when she’d suggested the idea of pickpocketing Ryan in the first place. What better place to avoid his parents than an event for townies? Nancy chuckled to herself as she put the car in drive and pulled out of the office parking lot. He didn’t always act like it, but her dad could be smart when he wanted to be. They were related, after all. 

She gingerly eased her old blue junker down the road towards the beach. She loved it for the memories it brought of her mom, but it wasn’t exactly reliable. Just last week, the engine had stopped and refused to start again. Nick had given it a look and even he had been bewildered, but all of a sudden, it’d sputtered to life again. She’d been a little anxious about driving it, but it had been raining this morning so she’d had no other option. 

A short time later, Nancy pulled into the community lot next to the beach where everyone gathered to fill their buckets. She reached into the back seat to grab the bucket her dad had left in her car, rolling her eyes when she saw the car vacuum that had reappeared. Every time it showed up she returned it to Ryan’s house, but somehow, he kept managing to sneak it back in. 

Speaking of her errant father, she could see his eye-catching Bentley a few rows forward, just as Bess had predicted. She locked her car and strolled down to the sand with her bucket, scanning the faces around her as she went. She saw George lingering at the edge of the crowd and waved, receiving a predictably terse smile in return. ‘Well,’ Nancy thought sardonically, ‘This isn’t going to make her like me any better.’ Squaring her shoulder, she walked over to the familiar figure she’d spotted at the shoreline. ‘Let’s hope I don’t singlehandedly ruin the effort of two decades of secrecy.’

She walked right to the water, ignoring the surprised look on the face of her companion. She scooped up a half bucket’s worth of water, angling herself so that when she turned around--

_ Splash! _

Nancy looked up with exaggerated shock into the damp, bemused face of Ryan Hudson. 

“Mr. Hudson, I am so sorry! I didn’t see you there. Here--” She grabbed his arm and started pulling him back up the shore to the parking lot, “I have a towel in my car, let me dry you off.” Her father knew her well enough to know when she was up to something, so he played along and let himself be manhandled. As she pushed through the crowd, she met George’s accusing eyes, She shrugged in apology and kept walking, but she knew a confrontation with her boss was imminent. 

Finally, once they were back at her car and free from prying eyes, she released his arm and tossed him a towel she kept in her trunk.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of any other way of getting you alone. And you weren’t answering your phone.” Worry bled into her tone without her permission. Even when they’d lived on different continents, he’d always made time to talk with her when she’d called, so when she couldn’t reach him, she got concerned. 

“It’s okay, I’ve had worse.” He wiped his face with the towel and then rubbed his hair dry, disturbing the carefully applied gel that kept it in place. “And  _ I’m  _ sorry I missed your calls. Celia has been calling nonstop so I turned off my work phone, and my personal phone died. I didn’t mean to be unreachable. I’ll try not to let it happen again.” He glanced around quickly to make sure the coast was clear before pulling her into a hug. She pressed her face into his shoulder, taking comfort in his familiar aftershave. She pulled away after a second, blinking to clear the moisture from her eyes. He’d been so busy in the wake of Tiffany’s death that she hadn’t been able to see him very much, and she had missed him. He squeezed her hand in comfort before clearing his throat and smiling.

“So what did you need? Not that I don’t love seeing you, but it seemed urgent.”

“Everett,” Ryan scowled at the mention of his father, “is having Tiffany’s body moved to a coroner out of town and I was wondering if you knew when the transfer was happening. He likely has this other coroner on his payroll, so I thought this might be the only opportunity to learn something but...” She cut herself off, “It’s already gone, isn’t it.”

“Yeah, Nance, I’m sorry. It left earlier this afternoon. It didn’t even occur to me that Tiffany-- “He took a steadying breath, “that there might have been information you could find.” 

They leaned against the side of her car, standing in silence as the reality of the situation sunk in. 

“How  _ did _ you get the vacuum back in my car?”

“Oh, I have my ways.”

“Carson?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

  
  
  


After saying goodbye to Ryan, Nancy drove back to the Claw. She wasn’t scheduled to close that evening, but she knew George was, and if her boss wanted to yell at her, she’d rather it not be in front of other people. Luckily, everyone else had gone home for the day so it would just be the two of them. 

George tensed when Nancy opened the door but continued to wipe down the bar counter without turning around. 

_ Thunk _

George looked down at the phone Nancy had tossed onto the counter she’d been wiping. 

“What’s this?”

“Ryan Hudson’s cell phone.”

That got George to stop cleaning. She still didn’t turn around but at least she was willing to listen.

“I know what you think happened but--”

“What I think? Oh so now you care about what I think?” George swung around to face Nancy, cleaning rag clenched in her hand. “Newsflash, Drew, you’re about two years too late!”

‘Okay, looks like we’re starting there.’ Nancy thought with a sigh. She’d known it was coming, but she thought George would take longer to bring it up. She felt guilty about how she’d let George take the fall for her and Ryan in high school. Even though she’s not sure what she would have done differently, looking back she knew that her silence had directly led to George’s suffering. And how could she possibly explain why Ryan had always been hanging around without telling her the truth? George was too smart not to know when she was being lied to, but could she trust someone who hated her with her biggest secret?

“I’m sorry that my actions, well lack of action, hurt you when we were in high school. I knew what people were saying wasn’t true, but I didn’t do anything to correct them. While I am not nor have I ever been,”  _ Shudder _ “romantically involved with Ryan Hudson, I probably could have done something to convince our classmates you weren’t either.”

Nancy had to tread very carefully here. George would know if she was being lied to, but Nancy couldn’t tell her the entire truth either. 

“Today I did seek him out but I did that because I needed information from him. The Hudsons had Tiffany’s body moved, and I thought Ryan might know when that was going to happen. I was right, but I was also too late. The transport had already come and gone before I even left the Claw. Never let it be said that Everett Hudson isn’t ruthlessly efficient.”

Suddenly exhausted, Nancy flopped down into one of the chairs. “So, I’m sorry. I don’t expect forgiveness but I am sorry nonetheless.”

George looked down at her appraisingly. After a few moments of unbearably tense silence, she spoke.

“Why didn’t you? Say something I mean. You said that you could have said something, so if you didn’t keep silent because you were cheating on your boyfriend with a married man, why did you keep silent? Also, why was Ryan always around if you weren’t involved?”

Trust George to cut right to the heart of the issue.

“Would you trust me if--”

“No.” George cut her off before she could finish.

“That’s fair,” Nancy replied with a weary smile. “I probably wouldn’t trust me either, if I was in your shoes.” She paused, weighing her words carefully. “I couldn’t let anyone connect me to Ryan. No one can know we know each other or know that we’re close anyway. I’m not trying to be mysterious, but I can’t talk about it and I can’t talk about why.” 

George sat in silence for a couple of seconds before nodded to herself as if coming to a decision. “I believe you.”

“You do?” Nancy exclaimed, shooting to her feet. 

“Hold on I’m not finished,” George rolled her eyes in consternation. “I’m not sure I forgive you, but I believe you had a good reason for not speaking up. That isn’t an excuse, but I do trust that you weren’t being malicious.”

Having decided that was too much sharing for one evening, George cleared her throat and fiddled with her hair.

“Well, now that that’s over with, I should get back to closing. Some of us care about doing our jobs after all.” With that final parting shot she walked back to her office, leaving Nancy standing awkwardly by the bar. Knowing George wouldn’t be happy to see her still standing there when she returned, Nancy grabbed Ryan’s phone quickly made for the exit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought there's be an episode today, but whatever  
> Let me know if there's any typos or if you have any thoughts/suggestions


	3. The Curse of the Dark Storm

It was only after Nancy stormed out of the garage that she stopped to consider if she’d possibly overreacted. Sure, she’d been shocked and upset by finding out Nick had a secret burner phone. She confronted him about it and he’d confessed that he’d been using it to contact her recently deceased step-mother, her recently murdered step-mother whose murder was still unsolved. When he’d gone on to admit that Tiffany had told him about a hidden object in the car left to her by her adopted mother, and she may have catastrophized. While she’d been hurt that he might have befriended her under pretense, she’d been more concerned with what Nick knew and who he had told. She had been afraid of Celia and Everett Hudson her entire life, and that fear had reared its ugly head. Now that the panic was receding and her head was clearer, she knew she might have jumped to conclusions. It was more likely that Nick and Tiffany were coincidentally speaking about Kate Drew than that Nick had been fishing for information about her relationship with the Hudsons. 

Nancy opened her car door and flopped into the driver’s seat. Despite how angry and scared she’d been mere minutes earlier, now she only felt regret. She’d projected her fears onto Nick’s motivations and had let her paranoia cloud her judgment. Just because Nick had a criminal record didn’t mean he had ulterior motives. When she’d seen Tiffany had given testimony at Nick’s trial, it had set her precocious tween detective inner self on edge. He also had a secret connection to the Hudsons, so who knows what he knew about her. Maybe Tiffany had caught him snooping, confronted him, and he’d killed her.

Still, she was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. The therapist Ryan made her visit since Kate’s death told her that she had a tendency to see the worst in people, and that was something she was trying to work on. That Nick had been in contact with Tiffany did not mean he had killed her. She wouldn’t let herself be blind to the possibility of his guilt if conclusive evidence presented itself, but in the meantime, she would not let paranoia control her relationships. She’d need to apologize the next time she saw him.

Nancy put the key in the ignition, waited for the car’s ancient engine to sputter to life, pulled out of the garage’s lot, and drove home. As she pulled up, she noticed an extra car conspicuously in the driveway. She parked on the street and made her way to the house, unease settling in her gut as she glanced up at the gloomy sky. Ryan had been to their house before; Carson had been the family lawyer for years, there was nothing weird about him visiting his lawyer at his home office. There she shouldn’t have any reason to be on edge and yet, she couldn’t help feeling like the town was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.

“Dad, is someone here? I saw a car in the driveway?” She knew who their guest was, but she wasn’t sure if he’d come alone and there was no reason for Nancy Drew to know Ryan Hudson’s car by sight. 

“It’s fine Nancy, it’s just us,” came the reply from the study. Sighing with relief but now more confused than ever as to her feeling of foreboding, she walked over to greet her fathers. She hugged them both and then took a seat.

“So, not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?” She asked Ryan.

“Believe it or not, I’m here for some actual lawyering. Now that Tiffany… well, Carson is helping me with her estate.” He looked into the middle distance with his jaw slightly clenched, before visibly relaxing as he looked at her with a smile. “Now enough about me. If I’m not mistaken, those are the same clothes I saw you in yesterday.” 

“Ugh no. I am not having this conversation with you-- with either of you,” Nancy groaned. She should’ve known this was coming. How she’d managed to keep her relationship with Nick on the down-low for this long was beyond her but clearly, that time was over.

“Aww Nancy, don’t be a spoilsport. It is our duty as your fathers to tease you about boys. Or girls, or whomever. It’s practically a rite of passage.” Ryan said with an exaggerated pout. “C’mon, Carson agrees with me.”

“No, no. Keep me out of this. As long as Nancy is happy and safe, I don’t need to be involved.” Carson cut in with a placatory tone. They’d had an unbearably uncomfortable conversation when he’d found her birth control and since then had come to an agreement of non-interference that suited both of them.

Ryan opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, the power flickered out and cast them into darkness.

Through the dim light floating in through the window, Nancy saw Carson stand up. 

“The nor’easter must have knocked out one of the power lines. I’ll go outside and see if I can get the generator running.”

He grabbed his raincoat and left the room, letting the door click shut behind him and leaving Nancy and Ryan alone in the dark study.

They sat in silence for a few moments, but Nancy could see her father glancing at her from the corner of her eyes. He cleared his throat a few times before finally speaking.

“So this boy,” he looked to her for confirmation, and when she nodded, he continued, “this boy you’re seeing, is it serious? Because you know you don’t have to hide him from Carson and me. I know I can be, well, overprotective, but I never want you to think you can’t--”

“I know Ryan don’t worry. I know you aren’t Everett and you would never try and interfere with my relationships for no good reason.” It was hard to be sure in the dark, but the tension seemed to drain from his body. He had never said so outright, but she’d always known he feared becoming like his parents. “It had nothing to do with you-- with either of you. I just needed something simple, and talking about it would have just complicated it.”

She didn’t elaborate, but Ryan seemed content with her explanation. Nancy was relieved. She wasn’t sure she could put her feelings into words in a better way. If she didn’t understand her relationship with Nick, she didn’t stand a chance of explaining it to someone else. 

“So, what about Tiffany’s estate is Carson helping you with? I know you said your parents insisted on a prenup; I would have thought that would have made the estate easy to deal with.”

Ryan sighed and rolled his eyes “You would think. I’m convinced Everett made it as complicated as possible, just to spite me. There’s a clause saying that the only way either of us inherits the other’s estate is if the deceased died of natural causes, so we have to wait for the official cause of death before we can get much done.” He paused and hmmed thoughtfully. “I wonder if this was his twisted way of protecting me from Tiffany trying to kill me and steal the Hudson fortune.”

“That does sound like something he would do,” Nancy nodded in agreement, “Your-- our family has been known to add weird legal clauses for nefarious reasons.”

“Yeah, well, Everett had to learn tricks from somewhere. Speaking of Tiffany’s estate, there’s one thing I can take care of right now.” Ryan stood up and pointed his phone flashlight at the papers on Carson’s desk. He flicked through a few pages before pulling one out and handing it to Nancy. “Here, give this to that Nickerson kid you’re  _ friends _ with.”

Seeing the shock on his daughter’s face, he laughed. “You two aren’t as subtle as you think you are. I saw you slinking out of the back door a couple of weeks ago when I was dropping the Benz off.” 

Nancy groaned and slid down in her chair. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten Ryan had a contract with Secret Uncle Josh to do the maintenance of his fleet of rich person cars. Ryan had set up the arrangement years ago when Lucy’s mother had been institutionalized. He’d felt bad about never having told Lucy’s family about Nancy and sought to make up for it by helping Josh pay for Patrice’s medical care. 

“So you already knew I was seeing Nick? Why didn’t you say something?”

“I thought you might tell us when you were ready. Since you were willing to at least acknowledge the existence of the relationship, I figured it was time to come clean. And Nick’s a good kid. He and Tiffany were friends, sort of, and if she trusted him, I can too. She even left him the deed to this old house she was renovating in her will. She was trying to turn it into some sort of museum or something. There’s also a note about a clock, but I couldn’t find one anywhere so I figured she’d set something else up”

She hadn’t said anything, but he must have sensed her suspicious face because he chuckled wetly and rubbed his eyes.

“We were married, you know. It wasn’t true love or anything and we both had our secrets, but we still talked to each other. She told me about Nick and everything that he’d gone through. She-- she was always so understanding when I would take off to see you, even though I couldn’t tell her where I was going or what I was doing. I can’t--” he took a shuddering breath, “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

Nancy stood up and pulled her father into a hug. She felt her shirt become slightly damp as he broke down into sobs, clutching her tightly. After a moment, she lowered them both to the ground and stroked Ryan’s back soothingly. It was something Kate had always done for her as a child, and at that moment, she missed her mom so badly it physically hurt. Eventually, Ryan stopped crying and leaned back against the chair he’d been sitting in. He withdrew from their hug but kept a tight arm around her shoulders. 

All of a sudden, the power came back on. They both squinted up at the ceiling light, blinded after sitting in the dark for so long. For a moment before her vision cleared, Nancy thought she saw a shadowy figure in the ceiling corner, but when she blinked, it was gone.

They were just picking themselves up off the floor when the front door slammed shut and Carson walked back into the room. His hair was dripping from the storm, and the parts of his clothes not covered by his coat were completely soaked.

“Well, that was very strange. I had just gotten to the generator after grabbing the gas to top up the fuel tank, but before I could even start it up, the power in the house had turned back on. I guess the power lines didn’t go down after all.” If he noticed Ryan’s eyes were red and puffy, he was kind enough not to say anything. “I’m going to get changed into dry clothes. I’ll be back in just a minute.”

When she turned back to Ryan, he was looking up at the ceiling corner she thought she’d seen the figure in. When he noticed her watching him, he smiled tightly and shook her off. “It’s nothing don’t worry about it. I just thought I saw-- never mind it doesn’t matter.”

“Well, I should get going and give the deed to Nick. Leave you two to your,” Nancy gestured vaguely towards the desk, “papers.”

That managed to get a laugh out of Ryan. “How thoughtful. There should be a spare key for that house somewhere at home if you want to stop by and pick it up. No point in giving Nick a house he can’t get into. Just tell him your dad got all of it from Tiffany,” He cut himself off a bleak laugh, “Hey, you won’t even have to lie about me giving you something. Isn’t that a nice change of pace.” 

She squeezed his hand in comfort and kissed his cheek. “Let Carson know I left, okay? And please call me tonight. We can have family dinner or something.” She held his gaze until he nodded, then stuck the folded-up deed in her coat and left to face the storm outside. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, I don't have a lot to say about this episode. it's pretty much just to clear up the nick red herring so I thought I would condense it. if I don't specifically mention something is different, assume it's the same. I think I might combine episodes 4 & 5 into one chapter since I'm going to be cutting so much unnecessary plot


End file.
